EULALEE THOMPSON
MORE THAN 2,000 dead chickens in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago, and that country's Health Minister John Rahael had this to say (according to the Associated Press):
"I want to give an assurance to the people of Trinidad and Tobago that in this part of the world, we have not seen any indication of the bird flu" and "There could be many reasons why those birds died. So, I don't think that there's any need for panic."
This sounds like complacency. Furthermore, it was reported in February 2004 that at least one case of bird flu was detected in Delaware in the United States, prompting agricultural officials there to order the slaughtering of 72,000 chickens and the imposition of a 30-day quarantine on 80 farms. Update on that situation could not be found but that sounds like bird flu in "this part of the world", and the United States supplies the largest amount of poultry products, including hatching eggs, to Jamaica.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been warning since 2004 that the current outbreak of bird flu in south-east Asia will trigger the world's next flu pandemic and that it's not about "if" but "when" the next flu pandemic lands on the world's doorstep. In preparation for the imminent outbreak the international experts recommend that countries:
1. Prepare emergency response teams
2. Stockpile what drugs there are
3. Build surveillance networks to detect new outbreaks.
JAMAICA'S PLAN
Has the Jamaican Health Ministry been paying these recommendations any mind?
Health Minister John Junor's notes (November 3, 2005) that an Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan is being prepared by a multi-sectoral core-working group led by the Ministry of Health. Sub-groups will develop action plans for the animal and human populations and for monitoring health systems and services. There's no update on the plan or its implementation, and no word on vaccines and antivirals, though it seems to be comprehensive proposing, for example, to:
Establish a pandemic influenza committee that will include public and private sector, health, agriculture, international organisations to provide oversight and ensure implementation of influenza pandemic plan.
Strengthen local viral laboratory capacity to support surveillance of avian influenza in the human population.
Strengthen national disease surveillance system (humans)
Strengthen National Animal Disease Surveillance System.
Implement target surveillance programme for avian influenza.
Conduct serological survey of influenza A in local bird population.
Establish laboratory capacity to test for avian influenza virus at the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Establish bio-security measures on poultry farms.
DEADLY VIRUS
Since 2003, there have been 147 laboratory-confirmed human cases of avian (bird) influenza - A/(H5N1) - in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and, more recently, Turkey. Seventy-eight of these cases have died.
The U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC) indicates that wild birds are the natural hosts for all known subtypes of influenza A viruses, including A/(H5N1). Usually, these wild birds do not become sick when infected with the virus but domestic poultry, such as turkeys and chickens, can become very sick and die from avian influenza. Some avian influenza A viruses do, in fact, cause serious disease and death in wild birds. Human beings usually contract the virus through direct contact with infected sick or dead infected birds. The fear is that mutation may occur in the virus facilitating spread through human-to-human contact.
NOT ENOUGH VACCINES
The first line of defence against the A/(H5N1) are vaccines, according to the WHO, but only about 10 countries have domestic vaccine manufacturers and some of them are working to develop a pandemic vaccine. However, the experts say that no country will have adequate supplies of vaccine at the start of the pandemic and for many months thereafter.
The WHO points out that manufacturing capacity for influenza vaccines is overwhelmingly concentrated in Europe and North America. Current production capacity - estimated at around 300 million doses of trivalent seasonal vaccine per year - falls far below the demand that will arise during a pandemic. Sounds like for small, developing or poor countries their goose (or chicken, pardon the quip) is cooked; the limited supplies of vaccines will not reach their far corners.
Maybe Jamaica could try to get some of the $500 million in aid recently endorsed by the board of the World Bank to help countries deal with H5N1 avian influenza preparedness.
You can send feedback to eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.
